Voting-machine.



No. 673,793. l Patented May 7,1901. W. R. CUNNINGHAM &. `T. MAJOR.

VOTING MACHINE.

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no. 673,793. Patented may 7, 190|. w. n. summum & immun. VUTING MACHINE.

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l*UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM R. CUNNINGHAM AND THOMAS MAJOR, OF FRANKFORT, INDIANA.

VOTING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 673,793, dated May 7,1901.

Application filed April 9, 1900.

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Be it known that we, WILLIAM R. CUNNING- HAM and THOMAS MAJOR, citizensof the United States, residing at Frankfort, in the county of Clintonand State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Voting-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The object of our said invention is substantially the same as that ofour Patent No. 623,991, dated May 2, 1899, and like the invention ofsaid patent relates to that class of machines by the use of whichpersons may so cast their ballots in any given balloting that the sameshall be counted or registered as the balloting proceeds, and while thevoter has his choice in -voting for any particular office he iseiectually precluded from voting more than once for the same person orthe same oiiice. i

Said invention consists in the construction and arrangement of parts ofsuch a machine whereby the various advantages sought are attained, aswill hereinafter appear.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which are made a part hereof,and on which similar reference characters indicate similar parts, Figure1 is a front elevation of a machine embodying our present invention,portions ot' the casing and frame-walls being broken away in order toshow the construction and arrangement at various points and exhibitindividual parts of the mechanism; Fig. 2, a top or plan view of such amachine, the open position of the door being shown by means of dottedlines; Fig. 3, a vertical sectional view, on an enlarged scale, showingportions of the interior of the machine at several points as seen whenlooking in the direction indicated by the arrows from the dotted line 33 in Fig. l; Fig. 4, a'verticalsectional View as seen when looking inthe direction indicated by the arrows when looking v from the dottedline 4 4in Fig. 1; Figs. 5 and 6, views similar to the upper portion ofFig. 4, but showing two different positions of the lockingbar andillustrating how duplicate voting is prevented by means thereof; Fig. 7,a horizontal sectional view as seen when looking downwardly from thedotted line 7 7 in Fig.' 1, but on the same scale as Figs. 3 and 4, thecentral portion being broken away Serial No. 12,160. (No model-l toavoid rduplication of the various mechanisms; Fig. 8, adetail horizontalsectional view looking downwardly from the dotted line 8 8 in Fig. 1;Fig. 9, a detail view as seen when looking in the direction indicated bythe arrows from the dotted line 9 9 in Fig. 8, the plate 3 lbeing brokenaway; Fig. 10, a detail sectional View, on an enlarged scale, of one ofthe locking-catches; Fig. 11, a detail sectional view showing the tubecontaining the balls by which the machine is locked against duplicateindividual Voting, and Fig. 12 a detail perspective view of one of thevotinglevers on an enlarged scale.

In our present machine the voting is elected by means` of a separate pinor punch 1, which, as shown in Fig. 3, should have a knob-like handle71, and which is to be held in the voters hand and thrust in through anorifice 2 in the main face or front frame-plate 3 ofthe machine againsta voting-lever 4, carrying a pawl 5, which engages with a ratchet 6 of asuitable register or counter, the stroke being sufficient to advancesaid register or counter a single notch or number. The register orcounter 6 is held in operated'position byaspring-detent 7. Thevoting-levers 4 are mounted on rods 8 in such a manner that th'ey mayhave a slight movement thereon, being loosely mounted in respect to thisslight movement under certain conditions,as will be hereinafterexplained, but mounted to partially rotate said rods under otherconditions. It may be here said that these rods are in themselves allalike and that the several sets of voting mechanisms are primarily allalike, the difference being in the locking mechanism by whichduplications of whole-ticket voting and individual-ticket voting areprevented, as will oe hereinafter more fully described. Each of saidlevers is provided with an arm 9, which enters a corresponding oritice o(see especially Figs. 11 and 3) in a tube 10 and is adapted to passinbetween the balls 1l in said tube, which under the pressure of saidarm will separate, leaving an interstice into which the point of saidarm will enter. The sum of the diameters ot` all the balls 11 in asingle tube added to the thickness of the arm 9 on one of thesevoting-levers is equal to the length of the cavityin the tube betweenthe closed ends thereof, (see Fig. 11,)

movement.

l Cf) so that when one of said levers has been thrust forward in votingthe tube of balls becomes -to all intents and purposes a solid bar,`which serves as an effectual stop to any other of the voting-levers, thuscertainly preventing duplicate voting.

tained. A screw-plug sin the end of each tube (see Fig. l1) is providedas a means of adjustment for the balls 11, so that accuracy of distancemay be easily secured and maintained and wear at any time taken up,

While a certain movement of the levers 4 on the' rods Sis provided for,they are nevertheless so connected. as that under certain conditionssaid levers are adapted to impart a'certaiu movement to said rods, andunder other conditions said rods operate to move said levers back toposition. Each votinglever has a notch made in its hub, (see Figs. 3 and12,) and a stud or pinp in the rod extends out into said notch.Referring now to Fig. 3 and observing particularly that set of mechanismsecond in order from the top, it will be seen that the pin pin the rodis resting against the bottom side of the notch in the hub of thevoting-lever, so that when the punch-pin 1 is thrust-in against saidvotinglever and the same is forced overit will during its movementpartially rotate the rod A8. In this movement the pin p is carried up tothe position shown in the upper setI of mechanism, and this indicatesthe amount of the The notch is sufliciently larger than the stud or pinto permit the other Votinglevers of the set to move idly a correspondingdistance, so that all said other voting-levers on the same rod may bemoved back and forth (so far as the .stopping devices permit) with-- outin any Way affecting the rod 8. Upon one end of eachof the rods 8 is abell-crank lever 12, (see Figs. 3 and 10,) and up'on the other end ofthe upper one of said rods is an y arm 13 (see Fig. 4,) andupon thecorresponding end of each of the other of said rods 8 is an arm 14. Whenthe machine is arranged ready for avoter, so that all the voting mechlanisms are free to be operated, the rods 8 are capable of a certainamount of rotation, as

fwill be understood by noticing the different positions .of the uppertwo voting-levers in Fig. 3 and the rods on which they are mounted,asabove indicated.- The arrangement is such, as will be seen by suchcomparison, that the rod 8 is in the operation of voting) ro- In otherWords, the tubeand the balls therein constitute, in eect, a solidv cvavetated suliciently so that one arm of the bell-v crank lever 12 passesbeneath the corresponding detent 15, which holds it to the rocked orpartially-rotated position untilv the machine is again set free for thenext voter. As above stated, the arm 13 at one end of the upper one ofthe rods 8 is different from the arms 14 on the corresponding ends ofthe other rods 8. This arm is adapted to swing over the top of areciprocating bar 16 and the arms 14 are adapted to enter slots in saidbar 16. The voting mechanisms immediately in connection with the upperone ofthe rods S are in the arrangement shown the Whole ticket votingmechanisms, and when any one of said voting mechanisms is operated andthe arm 13 is thus swung forward .over the top of the bar 16, as shownin Fig. 5 none of the -singleticket-voting mechanisms can be operated,as the arms 14, which enter the slots in the bar 16, preventtheremaining rods 8 from being rotated sufficiently to permit a vote beingregistered. When, however, any other one of the rods 8 is rotated in thearrangement shown by the registering ofa vote, the bar 16 is raised, asshown in Fig. 6, so that the upper end of the bar 16 is caused to passbehind the arm 13. Thus the voting of any single-ticket-voting mechanismis caused to ef- ,fectually lock the machine,so that noneof theWhole-.ticket-voting mechanisms can be operated, while all the vothersingle-ticket mechanisms are left free to operate, the slots in the bar16, into which the arms 14 enter, being o'f such a size and arrangementas permits the necessary movements, while the duplicationof individualvoting is effectually guarded against by the ball-and-tube stopbararrangement, which has already. been described. y 1

At a suit-able point on the rods 8 are p arts 17, preferably in the formof segments, which pass in front of .slits in the main face i orframe-plate'. These parts hear upon their surfaces the word Voted,7 andthe apparatus iis-so arranged when the machine is in condition forvoting on any orK all of the various voting units that this said wordVoted will be concealed, but after the voting has been done it vwill bebroughtup into registry with the corresponding slit in the plate, andthus displayed, so that the voter can tell ata glance when he hascompleted voting for the` Whole list of candidates, all the candidatesfor a sin- -gle oicebeing arranged to be voted for by means of themechanism connected to a single one of the bars 8 and each barshavingone of these partsr 17. l

The setting of the machine for another voter is accomplished by theshutting of the door to the machine,which when open stands acrossV thepath of the voter in making his entrance to the booth andmust be closedby him before he can make suchl entrance and reopened before he can haveaccess to the voting devices. This door 2O is an ordinary door mountedon pivots 21 and carries on its inner sur- IOO IIO

face a cam-track 22,'which passes between studs 23 and 24 on avertically-moving plate 25, which carries the detents 15, by whichthrough the bell-crank levers 12 the rods 8 are locked when the votingis done.k Studs 26 in the plate 25 strike one arm of each of thebell-crank levers 12, and thus force them over to position when theplate is raised, rocking the shafts 8, which through the pins io p forcethe voting-levers 4 back to position for use by the next voter, the bar16 being at the same time forced back to its proper position by saidrods through the arms 14. The raised position of the plate 25 and theparts carried thereby is indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 3. The lockedposition of the bellcrank lever 12 is shown in Fig. 10. As heretoforeindicated, the detents l5 are pivoted to the plate 25. They areprevented from moving too far downwardly by the studs '27 and arepermitted to rise under the contact of the appropriate arm of thebell-crank levers 12 by a spring 28 secured thereto, the other end ofwhich rests upon a stud 29. The engaging arm of the bell-crank lever 12is shown as serrated. This is so that said bell-crank lever will becaught and held by the detent 15, even if the voting-lever is onlypushed in part way. This precaution is taken to frustrate any possibleattempt to vote twice by pushing the voting-lever nearly in and thenpermitting it to return to position without being caught by the detent.

The door 2O has on its outer side a catch 30, which swings around andengages With a latchlever 3l on the outside ofthe machine. Thislatch-lever is so arranged as to operate an alarm-bell 32, so that themovement is audibly and visually announced. The latch-lever 31 is to bemanipulated by the voter before entering the booth. While the voter isin the booth engaged in the operation of voting, this catch-and-latcharrangement is inaccessible to him. A spring 33 is employed to bring thedoor sharply and certainly back to position.

The counters or registers severally consist of a series of permutablewheels 50, 51, and 52,bearing numerals on their faces and mounted on acommon shaft 53, as best shown in Fig. 7. These are operated, asheretofore explained, by the ratchet-wheels and pawls 5. These countersor registers are shown as having three Wheels each, which is usuallysucient,as voting-precincts usually contain only a few hundred voters;but of course additional wheels can be added and the machines thus putinto condition to count thousands, if desired. Immediately behind thesecounters is a plate 54, forming one wall of the frame or case tothemechanism, and through this wall, immediately behind each counter, is asmall opening 55, (see Fig. 3,) through which the counters can be seen.These openings may be covered with glass, if desired; but as they arequite small and are ordinarily only inspected in the presence of theentire election-board, so that tampering with them is in any casedifficult and, if attempted, certain to be detected, such glasscoverings are regarded as unnecessary.

The plate 54 is shown as carried by the hinges 57 and secured by thelocks 58. In preparing the machine for use this plate 54 is unlocked andswung back on its hinges, and the counter-disks are turned so that eachwillhave the O (naught) on the side nextthe inspection-openings. Thedisks may be separated from each other by sliding along on the shaftfreely when the plate 54 is swung back, so that they may be revolved atpleasure independently of each other. After being revolved to positionthey are moved close to each other in position for use and the platereplaced and locked in position. Said plate is provided with projections56, which pass in alongside the several outer disks of the severalseries of disks, which prevent'them from becoming disassembled whilethis plate isin place and the machine in operative condition.

When the machine is in condition for use and during the time the votingis going on, this back plate is completely inclosed and hidden Vfromview by means of an imperforate door 59, which is mounted on hinges 60and is fastened by locks 6l.

As heretofore stated, the voting is accomplished by means of a punch-pin1, adapted to be inserted indiscriminately through any one of thenumerous holes 2 in the face or front plate 3 of the votingmachine. Bythis arrangement we dispense with all projecting voting-levers, such ashave been used in voting-machines, leaving instead a practically smoothface having small holes through which a suitable punch or pin may beinserted.

IOO

This arrangement is superior to that wherein a separate lever ispermanently connected to each individual voting mechanism for variousreasons. The space required is less, and a greater proportion of theface-place is free t-o be seen, so that the device as a Whole is lessconfusing to the voter, which tends to accuracy in voting. It is also ofmuch advantage t'or the reason that a voting-machine to be practicablemust necessarily be equipped with a sufficient number of'votingmechanisms to be provided for the largest possible number of candidatesin a general election and in large places where--for example, city,township, county, State, and national offices may all need to be votedfor at one electionthe candidates are very numerous. A machine ofsuitable size and character for such duty is manifestly much larger thanis necessary in smaller places and in less general elections. Under thelastnamed circumstances that portion of the plate not required can becompletely covered by a sheet of paper or otherwise, thus confining thevoters attention to the portion of the plate which is left uncovered andin condition for voting, which, in effect, reduces the machine from alarge to a small machine and adapts it to the ble to be bent or brokenod by malicious persons and the machine thus damaged. Thus by ourarrangement we are enabled to fur-- nish a machine with a veryplain andsimple face and one which is easily adapted to all requirements.

Having thus fully described our said invention, what we claim as new,and desire .to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, in a Voting-machine, with a series of voting-leversmounted on a shaft with a part located in front of an orifice in thecasing for receiving the impulse from the push-pin and having separateprojections, of a tube having orifices therein to permit the ,entry ofsuch projections, and a series of balls in said tube between certainones of which balls the projection on one of said levers is adapted toenter, said balls and said projection beingl of sufficient'size that thesum of their diameter will fill said tube longitudinally, whereby asingle voting-lever l is permitted free motion sufficient to ,accomplishthe voting while such motion on the part of all theothers of the seriesis prevented.

2. The combination, in a voting-machine, of a casing with .a series ofapertures, a rod within the casing, a series of voting-levers adapted tobe operated byeJ push-pin inserted through said apertures in the casing,mounted on said rod, a pawl pivoted to each of said voting-levers,registers or counters embodying ratchet-wheels with which said pawlsengage, a tube arranged alongside the voting-levers and containing`orifices opposite thereto,and a series of balls wit-hin said tube, eachof said voting-levers being provided with an arm proj ecting therefromat an angle to register with the corresponding orifice in the frame andextending out over said pawls and also adapted to engage with saidratchetwheels.

4. The combination, in a voting-machine, of a rod having pins orprojections thereon,

aseries of voting-levers mounted on said rod the hubs whereof containnotches to receive said pins or projections whereby said votingleversare adapted to have a limited movement on said rod, arms rigidly securedto the ends of said rod, and a vertically-moving bary with which thearms on the ends of the rodsl are adapted to engage, said several partsbeing arranged as described, whereby, when an individual'ticket has beenvoted, the wholeticket-vot'ing mechanism is locked against furthereffective movement, and whereby, when a whole ticket has been voted, theindi'vidual-ticket-voting mechanism is locked against further eectivemovement, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

5. The combination, in a voting-machine, of a series of rods, a seriesof voting-levers mounted on each of said rods, `arms rigidly attached tothe ends of said several rods, and avertically-moving bar provided withengaging points forsaid arms', said engaging points being arranged'asdescribed to lock the machine against duplicate voting, substantially asset forth.

6. The combination, in a Voting-machine, of a series of` rods, a seriesof votinglevers mounted on each of said rods, a bell-crank lever securedupon each of said rods, a vertically-.movable bar 'arranged adjacent tosaid bell-crank levers, and a spring-catch on said bar adjacent to eachbell-crank lever, said catches being adapted to engage with an arm 0fthe adjacent lever whenever the .correspending rod is rocked by theoperation of voting, and to be released whenthe bar carrying the catchesis raised, Substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

7. The combination, in a voting-machine, of the levers for'operating themechanism mounted on shafts, parts on said shafts adapted to engage withlocking mechanism, said locking ,mechanism comprising a locking-.barcarrying catches for individually locking the several voting mechanismsand provided with suitable projections, and a door swinging in proximityto said bar and provided with a cam-track traveling against theprojections .on said vertically-moving bar, whereby said bar is movedupwardly when said door is swung in one direction and moved down- Wardlywhen said door is swung in the other IOO IIO

direction, the catches being thus carried out of engagement whenl thedoor is closed, and restored lto position for further engagement,whelili the door is opened, substantially as set ort v 8; Thecombination, in Va voting-machine, of va series of voting-levers, aseries of counters each composed of V severaldisks and a ratchet-wheelAmounted on a shaft or rod, pawls ,on said votinqglevers .engaging withsaid ratchet- Wheels whereby said counters are operated, and a movableplate arranged near L said counters and carrying projections adaptyed toextend in Aalongside said counters, Vwhereby, when said plate is inposition, the

several disks-of said counters are held in operative relation to eachother, and whereby, when said plate is removed, said counters arepermitted to be separated longitudinally of theshaft, and adjusted,substantially as set forth.

v9. The combination, in a voting-machine,

of a rod, a series of Voting-levers mounted on said rod, means foroperating any one of said voting-levers, a connection between eaeh ofsaid Voting-levers and said rod whereby when a voting-lever is operatedin the operation of voting said rod will be partially rotated, a part onthe end of said rod bearing a Word or symbol indicating the faet thatthe same has been operated and Voted, said part being arranged behindthe face-plate of said Votingmaehine, and said face-plate containing Aasuitable slit opposite the position to which the Word or symbol israised in the voting operation, whereby the vot-er is visually informedwhen each Vote east by him is completed, and enabling him to detect andsupply omissions before leaving the booth, substantially as set forth.

In Witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals, atFrankfort, Indiana, zo

this 4th day of April, A. D. 1900.

WILLIAM R. CUNNINGHAM. THOMAS MAJOR. Witnesses:

ELMER E. SHERIDAN, GEORGE L. KERN.

